Machine for removing insulation



Nov. 22, 1955 w. H. SHI-:LEY ET AL 2,724,135

MACHINE FOR REMOVING INSULATION Filed oct. 14, 1949 12 sheets-sheet 1 wwf/mas N WA wif/L .s/ffm Ax f. m90

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NOW 22, 1955 w. H. sHELEY ET AL 2,724,13

MACHINE FOR REMOVING INSULATION Nov. 22, 1955 w. H. sHELEY ET AL MACHINE FOR REMOVING INSULATION 12 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed Oct. 14, 1949 Nif/17035 Nov. 22, 1955 w. H. SHI-:LEY ET AL MACHINE FOR REMOVING INSULATION 12 Sheets-Sheet 4 Filed Oct. 14, 1949 mm1/M XM Y mw m vara N MM M H Hur. ow Mm n f M W W Nov. 22, 1955 w. H. sHELEY z-:T AL 2,724,136

MACHINE FOR RENovING INSULATION Filed oct. 14, 1949 12 sheets-sheet 5 Nov. 22, 1955 w. H. SHI-:LEY ET A1.

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MACHINE FOR REMOVING INSULATION Filed Oct- 14, 1949 I2 sheets-sheet a Nov. 22, 1955 w. H. SHELEY ET AL 2,724,136

MACHINE FOR REMOVING INSULATION Filed OCT.. 14, 1949 12 Sheets-Sheet 9 Nov. 22, 1955 w. H. SHI-:LEY ETAL .2,724,136

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YNew. 22, 1955 w. H. SHELEY ET AL 2,724,136

MACHINE FOR REMOVING INSULATION United States Patent Chice 2,724,136 Patented Nov. 22, 1955 MACHINE FOR REMOVING INSULATION Wayne H. Sheley, Max E. Todd, and Richard M. Goodwin,

Anderson, Ind., assignors to General Motors Corporation, Detroit, Mich., a corporation of Delaware Application October 14, 1949, Serial No. 121,252

4 Claims. (Cl. 15-4) This invention relates to apparatus for removing insulation from the lead wires of parts of electrical apparatus such as form-wound generator armature coils. One object of the invention is to facilitate the removal of baked-varnish insulation from end portions of wires. The method consists in heating the insulation to a temperature sufficient to char the insulation and in brushing the end portions of the wires to remove the residue.

A further object is to provide a machine adapted to receive racks of electrical coils, the lead wires of which are to be stripped of insulation, said machine having means for charring the insulation of the lead wires, means for brushing the lead wires to remove the charred insulation and a conveyor for moving the rack of coils past the charring means and the brushing means.

A further object is tofacilitate alignment of the coil, lead wires While upon the racks and preparatory to placing the racks in the machine.

Further objects and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the following description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, wherein a preferred embodiment of the present invention is clearly shown.

In the drawings:

Figs. l` and 2 show a side elevation of the machine, the insulation charring burners and the motors which operate rotary brushes being omitted;

Figs. 3 and 4 show a plan view of the machine as shown in Figs. 1 and 2;

Figs. 5 and 6 show on a larger scale the insulation charring burners omitted from Figs. l and 3;

Fig. 7 is a sectional view on the line 7-7 of Figs. 1 and 8;

Fig. 8 is a fragmentary sectional view on line 8 8 of Fig. 7;

Fig. 9 is a fragmentary sectional view on line 9-9 of Fig. 8;

Fig. l0 is a sectional view on line 10-10 of Fig. 1l;

Fig. 11 is a side view of one of the motor driven lead brushing units;

Fig. l2 is a sectional view on line 12-12 of Fig. 1l;

Fig. 13 is a View similar to Fig. 12 showing the construction required for the motor-driven brushing units which are on the far side of the machine as viewed in Fig. 2;

Figs. 14 and 15 are sectional views respectively on lines`14--14 and 15-15 of Fig. 13;

Fig. 16is a sectional viewon the line 16-16 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 17 is a sectional view on line 17-17 of Fig. 2;

Figs. 18 and 19 are sectional views respectively on lines 18-18 and 19-19 of F ig. 17;

. Fig. 20 is a fragmentary view similar to Fig. 7 showing an adaptation of the machine for operating upon the lead wires of the coils which are shorter vertically than those shown in Fig. 7;

Fig. 2l is a perspective view of a rack receiving a group of electrical coils whose lead wires are to be stripped of insulation;

Cil

Fig. 22 is a transverse sectional view through the rack and shows one of the coils upon the rack;

Figs. 23, 24 and 25 show steps in the process of aligning the lead wires preparatory to stripping insulation therefrom by the present machine.

Referring to Figs. 1 4, the frame of the machine comprises sections A and B. Section A comprises channel legs 36, side channel members 31 and horizontal plate 32 attached to the channels 31. Bars 313 are attached to legs 30. Section B comprises channel legs 35 supporting horizontal channels 36 which support horizontal plates 37. Cross bars 38 and 39 are attached to legs 35. The left end legs 35 are attached to plate 4i) to which the right end channels 34) are attached. Plates 32 and 37 are flush.

Adjacent the right end, section B supports bearings 41 (Fig. 17) for a shaft 42 which drives sprockets 43 connected with sprocket chains 44 connected with a plurality of equidistant bars 45. The upper runs of the chains 44 slide on bars 46 attached to plates 32 and 37. Shaft 42 is driven by an electric motor 50 which through speed reducing gearing in housing 51 drives a shaft 52 connected by a sprocket 53, chain S4 with a sprocket 55 connected with shaft 42 through a friction, torque limiting clutch which comprises a driven member 56 attached to shaft 42 having a ange 57 provided with clutch facings 58 and 59. A metal clutch disc 61 is splinedly connected with the hub of member 56. Disc 61 is provided with clutch facings 62 and 63. A clutch driven member 64 is provided with pockets for receiving springs 63 surrounding screws 66 and bearing at their left end against nuts 67 and at the right end against a wall 68 of member 64. A metal disc 60 which is splined to `member 64 is located between facings 59 and 62. Springs 65 urge a disc 69 toward the member 64 thereby placing the clutch plates and facings under compression so that the torque which is transmitted from sprocket 55 to shaft 42 is dependent on the force exerted by these springs. ln case motion of the conveyor is obstructed the clutch yields to prevent damage.

The chains 44 pass around idle sprocket 7) at the left end in frame section A (Figs.` l and 3). Sprocket 70 is supported by shaft 71 journaled in bearings 72. The lower runs of chains are supported by sprockets 73 connected with shafts 74 journaled in bearings 75 (Figs. l and 2).

The conveyor is adapted to receive racks R (Fig. 21) upon which coils C have been placed, for example, by the coil winding and taping machine disclosed in copending application of Burge et al., Serial No. 733,758, tiled March l1, 1947. The rack R comprises plates 80, 81 and 82 joined by rods S3. Plates 80 and 81 are joined by tube 84 adapting the rack to be received by the wind ing machine referred to. Rack R when mounted on said machine stands vertically with plate lowermost. To facilitate transportation of a rack loaded with coils, plate S2 is provided with a ring 85 adapted to be received by hooks carried by a suitable chain conveyor.

The lead wires L of coil C when placed upon the rack R are in general out of alignment as viewed in Fig. 2l. The present machine provides a lead aligning device shown at the left of section A (Fig. 3). The bracket 90 attached to plate 32 supports horizontal cross bars 91, 92 and 93 separated by spacers 94, 95 and 96. A lead wire receiving pocket 94 is between bracket 90 and plate 91. A lead wire receiving pocket 96 is` between plates 92 and 93. Plates 91 and 92 provide surfaces 91a and 92a, respectively, which are oblique to each other and to the planes of the pockets. The operator removes a rack R filled with coils C from the hook of a conveyor chain and holds it horizontally, as shown in Fig. 22, and locates passes these leads into the pocket 96 between plates 92 to be bent into alignment.

and 93, as shown in Fig. 24, and pushes the coils against the downwardly inclined, oblique portion 92a of plate 92, as shown in Fig. 25, causing the coils lower leads L The coils are withdrawn from the space between plates 92 and 93 and the rack is inverted end over end. Then the other leads are bent into alignment by similar manipulation with respect to bracket 90 and plate 91.

Screws, such as 100 (Fig. 16), secure to the plates 32 and 37 spaced bars 101 and a plate 102 to which screws 103 attach bars 104. The bars 104 comprise a track upon which the coils and racks have their movement guided through the machine. Plates 105 are attached to bars 101 and have elongated horizontal slots for receiving bars 106 pivotally connected at 107 (Fig. 8) with arms 108 pivoted on screws 109 attached to plates 32. Plates 110 provide sockets 111 for receiving springs 112 which urge the bars 106 against the sides of the coils C. The bottom portions of coil C are engaged by bar 113 which is urged upwardly by springs 114, upward movement of bar 113 being limited by engagement of plate 102 with nut 115 threaded on a rod 116 passing through a hole in plate 102 and connected with bar 113. Nut 115 can be adjusted on the rod 116 and secured in the desired position of adjustment by a nut 117. The bars 106 and 113 engage the coil C with pressure such as to cause them to drag back against the rack plate 80 (Fig. 21) which is engaged by a conveyor plate or pusher bar 45 which moves the racks from left toward right in Figs. 14, or toward the observer in Fig. 7. Thus the coils are compacted and their lead wires are closely grouped.

The lead wires L extend upwardly between bafe plates 120, 121 and 122, located respectively under rows of the gas burners 124, 125 and 126 connected, as shown in Figs. 5, 6 and 7, with manifold pipes 127 supported by brackets 128 attached to plates 129, supported by vertical plates 130. Plates 130 support brackets 131 which support a hood 132 which encloses the burners and is connected with an exhaust fan, not shown, for sucking out the fumes resulting from the charting of the coated insulation on the lead wires L.

Plates 120 and 122 are attached to brackets 133 carried by a frame 134 and supported by plates 32. Frame 134 supports a rod 135 which is adjustable vertically and which carries the plate 121. Adjacent to the lower side of plates 120 and 122, pipes 136 for the circulation of water are attached; and adjacent to the upper side of plate 121, water circulating pipes 137 are attached. A baille plate 138 is located between pipes 137 and the row of burners 125. The water circulating in pipes 136 and 137 so limits the temperature of plates 120, 121 and 122, that the charting of the baked-varnish insulation on lead wires L is limited to the portions thereof which extend above these plates and the insulation of the coils is unharmed.

As the rack R and its coils C move in a direction toward the observer in Fig. 16, the lead wires L pass between pairs of oppositely rotating wire-bristle brushes 140. There are four pairs of brushes 140. The two pairs shown in Fig. 4 at the left are located at elevations which are lower than the two pairs shown in the middle of Fig. 4. These brushes remove the charred insulation so that the leads L become clean and bright when brushed. The racks loaded with the coils whose leads have been cleaned are removed from the conveyor at the right end portion of the machine. The pairs of brushes and their support by the driving motor to be described are enclosed by a hood represented by the rectangle 132a in dot-dash lines in Figs. 3 and 4. This hood is connected withasuction fan so that the particles of charred insulation removed by the brushes are withdrawn by suction. TQprotect the coils C from these particles they are moved between baffles or bars 141 and under a bale plate 142 which frame 143 supports above the plates 37.

Referring to Fig. 12, the brushes 140 are supported by shafts 145 and 146 journaled in bearings 147 and 148. Shaft 145 is connected with a gear 149 meshing with a gear connected with a shaft 151 journaled in bearings 152. Shafts 146 and 151 are connected respectively with grooved pulleys 153 and 154. The brackets 155 and 156 which support the bearings for shafts 145 and 151 are fixed to a plate 170. The bracket 159 which supports the bearings for shaft 146 is guided for adjustment relative to plate 170 by a key 159a (Fig. 14) which screw 159b secures to bracket 159 so that spacing of the shafts 145 and 146 can be reduced as the length of the bristles of the brushes 140 are reduced due to wear. Bracket 159 is adjusted by the turning of a screw 160 threaded into a lug 160a of bracket 159 and extending through a bracket 161 attached to plate 170 and having collars 162 engaging the bracket 161 to prevent axial movement of the screw. Plate 159 is secured in adjusted position by screws 163 whose heads are located on the side of plate remote from the observer in Fig. l2 and whose shanks 164 pass through slots 165 in plate 170 and are threaded into the bracket 159.

A belt 166 passes around pulleys 153 and 154 (Fig. t0) and around a pulley 167 driven by an electric motor 168 attached to a plate 169 having ears 169a pivoted on a rod 169b supported by plate 170. A screw 171 which passes through holes in plates 169 and 170 receives nuts 172 and 173. By looseningnut 172, nut 173 can be threaded upwardly on screw 171 in order to tilt the plate 169 clockwise to tighten the belt and nut 172 is then screwed down upon plate 169. Thus the slack in the belt is taken up when the spacing between the axes of shafts 145 and 146 is decreased.

Referring to Fig. 11 each plate 170 is provided with ears pivoted on a rod 181 supported by a bracket 182l attached to a bracket 183 attached to a plate 37. Plate 170 has an ear 184 receiving a pin 185 connected with a pair of toggle levers 186 which straddle a nut 187 having projecting studs 188 pivotally connecting lever 186 with a pair of toggle levers 189 pivoted on a pin 190 attached to a bracket 190:1 attached to a plate 37. Nut 187 is threaded on a rod 188 which passes through an opening 191 in bracket 183 and which is attached to a hand-wheel 192 whose hub 193 is provided with notches 194 adapted to be received by the blade of a plunger 195 slidable in a block 196 attached to bracket 183 and urged downwardly by a spring 197 surrounding a rod 198 attached at its lower end to the plunger 195 and passing through a plug 199 and attached at its upper end to a head 200. By lifting the head, the plunger 195 is retracted from the hub 193 so that the hand wheel 192 can be turned. Since axial movement of the rod 188 to the left is limited by engagement of a washer 201 with bracket 183 and since axial movement of rod 188 to the right is limited by engagement with bracket 183 of a collar 202 attached to the rod, the nut 187 will move relative to the rod to change the angular relation between toggle links 186 and 189 thereby raising or lowering the plate 170 relative to the plate 37. Nuts 203 threaded on rod 188 limit left movement of nut 187 so that the brushes 140 can not be lowered too near to the plate 142 shown in Fig. 16.

The mechanism which is described with reference to Figs. l0, 11 and l2 is that which is supported by plates 1.70 at the front side of the machine (the lower side as vlewed in Fig. 4). The mechanisms which are'supported b y plate 170 at the rear side of the machine (the upper side as viewed in Fig. 4) are identical except that the parts are located in reverseorder as will be seen by comparing Fig. 13 with Fig. l2. The pair of brushes 140 which are rst engaged by the wires are located relatively close to the tops of the coils so that the charred insulation will be removed down close to where the leads L` extend from the baffle plate 142 (Fig. 16). The pair's of brushes 140 which are the second onesto be engaged by the wire leads contact those portions which are closer .to the ends of the leads.

Referring to Fig. 20, it will be seen that rack R supports coils C' which are shorter (vertically) than those shown in Figs. 7 and 21. The disclosed machine is adapted to clean the leads of coils having the same width but varying in the height as viewed in Figs. 7 and 20. The racks supporting the shorter coils are located upon a spacer which comprises a wooden block 210 forming the core for a metal support 211 shaped to receive the coils and of such thickness as to bring the tops of the shorter coils to the level of the tops of the tallest coils which the machine can operate upon. The back plate or bar 80 of rack R is received by a plate 212 attached to block 210 and engaged by a pusher bar 45.

The present apparatus obviously removes, when present, the wrapping of cotton-thread insulation enclosing the varnished wire. The use of rotary wire-bristle brushes to remove cotton-thread insulation without charring is well known. Wire-brushing of uncharred baked varnish insulation can be done; but it is not practical because more time is required and the wire-bristles wear very rapidly. The charring of baked-varnish insulation makes removal of this insulation by wire-brushing as easy as the removal of uncharred thread insulation by wirebrushing.

While the embodiment of the present invention as herein disclosed, constitutes a preferred form, it is to be understood that other forms might be adopted.

What is claimed is as follows:

1. A machine for removing baked-varnish insulation from lead wires ofa plurality of individual coils assembled on a longitudinally extending rack, the lead wires extending from the coils in substantially parallel rows, said machine comprising a track upon which a plurality of racks of coils may be placed, yieldable supporting means for holding the coils in the desired position upon the track, means formoving the racks along the track, means for charring the insulation of the lead wires only as the racks move along the track and a plurality of pairs of power operated rotary wire-bristle brushes each for receiving a row of lead wires between them to remove the charred insulation as' the racks move along the track.

2. A machine according to claim 1 having baffle members separating the coils from the rotary brushes and spaced apart to receive the lead wires between them.

3. In a machine for removing baked varnish insulation from lead wires of a plurality of individual coils assembled on a longitudinally extending rack, the lead wires extending from the coils in substantially parallel rows, the combination comprising, a track upon which a plurality of racks of coils may be placed, yieldable supporting means for holding the coils in the desired position upon the track, a series of gas burners providing llames through which the parallel rows of lead wires only pass to cause charring of the insulation thereon, means for protecting the coils from the heat of the flames, and means for moving the racks along the track.

4. The combination as claimed in claim 3 wherein the means for protecting the coils from the heat of the flames are water cooled baiiie plates separating the coils from the burners and spaced to provide for the passage of the lead wires therebetween.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,136,110 Eberhart Apr. 20, 1915 1,313,814 Gruetter Aug. 19, 1919 1,648,794 Wenzel Nov. 8, 1927 1,674,407 Manker June 19, 1928 1,734,745 Ray Nov. 5, 1929 1,802,587 Tavender Apr. 28, 1931 1,835,801 Mayhew Dec. 8, 1931 1,970,031 Collins Aug. 14, 1934 2,021,421 Mason Nov. 19, 1935 2,116,228 Akin May 3, 1938 2,260,783 Morley Oct. 28, 1941 2,307,046 Johnson Jan. 5, 1943 2,435,239 Schub Feb. 3, 1948 2,442,350 Felber `lune 1, 1948 2,645,796 Lecce July 21, 1953 2,671,913 Kirsch Mar. 16, 1954 

